1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a drum structure, and more particularly to a snare drum having a unitary top drum shell composed of four separate cylindrical members permanently attached to each other which is slidably coupled to a bottom snare drum shell to impart a desired sound by changing the depth of the snare drum.
2. Description of Related Art
Drums which are substantially sealed or open with respect to the surrounding atmosphere, but which may be adjusted to alter the contained volume within the closed drum is known in the prior art. More specifically, by way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,287 to Crouch, et al. discloses a snare drum assembly which enables the snare drum element to be positioned internally of a drum. The snare mechanism acts against the top drum head of a drum which allows lower drum head and related structure to be eliminated.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,462,262 to Hagiwara discloses a drum main body having first, second and third drum body elements of cylindrical shape where the third drum body element is located between the first and second drum body elements and the first, second and third drum body elements can have different lengths.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,576 to Good, et al. discloses a drum shell having cylindrical sections located in axially end-to-end positions; where a first section is wood and the second and third sections are of metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,437 to Hinger, et al. discloses a drum having two, axially-separable cylindrical sections. When the open ends of the two sections are axially spaced-apart to provide an annular gap between them, the space within the sections communicates with the ambient air, through the gap to increase the volume of the drum. Means are provided for varying the size of the gap, or for closing it altogether; whereby the pitch and tonal characteristics of the drum can be varied.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,019 to Cordes discloses a drum having two cylindrical shells which are telescopically arranged for axial adjustment with respect to each other. One of the shells is constructed of metal and a separate set of casings for each drum head are provided on each shell. A number of spaced apart insulating strips are located between the shells which can be adjusted in a stepwise manner relative to each other.